SC Coupe Restoration

[roy mawbey]

David,

I am sure you are correct the 'wiring' must take place at some point in the stamping operation. For one, the fender is too difficult to hold externally from the die and manually even with a roller die situation make the swaging to locate without deformation, the outer surface of the fender.

However, I am still very confused in my mind as to the number of operations needed to make the complete pressing. If the fender stamping is made first in the flat stage so the wheel arch is stamped and the swaging lip is produced not vertical but at an angle the wire could be entered and held by fixturization at either end then a formed punch with the correct wire radius might be used to make the swaging.

Its not like a progression tool, I don't see those two operations taking place in the same clamping. I do see the possibility of the stamping datums allowing the flat sheet to progress from one machine to another. Then finally the the fender forming operation takes place?

Maybe the factory videos might show this, I will have to look. I expect though there might have been multi operations involved on some of the major stampings.

I looked again yesterday at my original wired fenders, the 'curl' around the wire is perfect, there is no excess 'lip' material it just curles round the wire and stops. One small operation that has me foxed for sure.

However, to repair areas later the video Justin put on really opened my eyes its perfect for that but surly thinking about it just not possible for production.

Sometimes wouldn't it be nice if some 80 year old German guy who used to be a press operator would speak up and tell us!

Sorry for going on and on....

Roy

[Carrera_The_Kid]

Roy,

I am sure that somebody like Frank Jung could probably find out.

In addition, there have been some in-depth articles on Reutter construction in the four-cam forum several years back. My good friend Dick Koenig interviewed several former Reutter employees for this series.

[tperazzo]

Thanks Trevor, Sorry I never caught up with you again at the last swapmeet. I'm really curious how your once 3 piece coupe is coming along. Stop by anytime, we're having a party during and after the fourth of July parade

David and Joris, thanks for the nice comments and I'm so glad you guys are here on this forum. Chime in on this post anytime!

Roy, I hope someone solves the mystery regarding the factory fender well process. I agree it must be automated or the factory couldn't afford to do it. As a side note, John Willhoit almost always replaces this wheel arch on his restorations pictured on his website. They must have a good procedure that works for them. BTW, This is the only way to get all the rust out that I know of.

My rocker project is pretty involved since the panel was too short and not deep enough to mate with the existing sill plate. Unfortunately I don't have a good before picture, so I will try to explain the problem. With the door installed I aligned the rocker to the door. Step 1 was to get the 3mm door gap, and step 2 was to make the rocker flush with door everywhere along the doors length. This meant shaping the rocker to match the curvature of the door. In this respect the repro panel had almost the right curvature. Sound easy enough except at the doors midpoint there was about a 1/4" gap between the rockers flange and the existing sill plate. This is place where the factory spot welded the rocker on. It fit ok at the beginning and end of the door but the middle didn't. So I could have cheated and angled the flanges to a close proximity, but no, no, no it would drive me crazy.

Here's what I did...First flatten the flange.



Then welded a new flange on. You can see that it's a tad narrower at the rear than the middle.



Backside.



Here it is welded onto the sill. Now the flanges meet like they should and plug welds replace the original spot welds. I do wish I had a spot welder because it would work well here.




Next time, I'll show the rear fender weld. Thanks everyone for helping me along.
Cheers,
Tom

[JTR70]

WOW! That really was an involved correction! Was it just this side that was too narrow or did you have to do this for both sides? After you flattened out the initial bend how did you rebend it? Do have a sheet metal brake? I have never seen anyone go as far to correct this stuff as you have. Really nice job so far!
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Tom,

Nice repair, You obviously gave that some real thought. It really pays off when you see a nice result.

Roy

[tperazzo]

Thanks guys, I guess that is why I'm behind schedule, ha ha.
Justin, I flattened the 90 deg bend, then trimmed the extra metal so the rocker fit the door and sill plate perfectly. Then I welded a new flange on at a 90 deg angle. Viola! It fits now, but that was an extra yard of welding I wasn't anticipating.

I do have a press brake but its not long enough for this part and it always bends straight flanges and this one needed to be a little curved.

I haven't done the other side yet. I do have the original rockers that I cut off and I use them for measurements all the time. For instance, I will measure the deco hole positions etc.

[tperazzo]

Ok, here's a little more of my rocker replacement. Shown below is the rear butt weld. Remember I changed this junction from the factory lap weld(both the front and rear).



Close up for those of you that care.



Mostly finished. I may go back a raise a few low spots...later.




One of my favorite "tools" is a stainless welding rod. It easily conforms to contours and immediately shows high and/or low spots. There is a low spot in this photo, but its only about .030" low.




Probably getting tired of welding shots by now.





Next time I'll show the patch needed to make this rocker fit. This is the amount that the rocker was too short. About 5/16".





Thanks!!! I'm fully inspired after a great Dana Point 356 show this past weekend! Must finish metal work or else!
Tom

[Phil Planck]

As always - nice work Tom. I am in the process of installing my 2nd rocker on Foam Car.

[merbesfield]

Very nice work. You must have a great deal of patience. Are you welding w a TIG?

[Trevor]

Thanks!!! I'm fully inspired after a great Dana Point 356 show this past weekend! Must finish metal work or else!
Tom

X2. I thought that was you that I said hi to briefly, you were riding shotgun in a car right? Metal work looks good as usual! Did you see any cars that left a big impression on you?

[JTR70]

Thanks for the update Tom! Really nice! Those welds look good! (I really need to get a TIG.) Is that your 911 Targa in the background? I'm glad you got motivated at the show! Keep at it! Justin

[tperazzo]

Many thanks to all for the kind words of encouragement.

Yes, all but the plug welds are TIG. Patience, OCD, nuts all describe my work, ha ha.

I will say though, that I don't believe the TIG takes any more time than MIG when welding thin sheetmetal because you have to let it cool between short stitches anyway. One nice benefit is much less time finishing welds, however the panel fit has to be near perfect, so I think its about a wash in the sense of time.

Trevor, I liked all of them at the show including a few beaters. Makes me want my car back. I've driven my car to this event a few times in the past and parked on the hill going up to the lawn, ha ha. If I had to pick one favorite, it would be the red carrera. Not only a great car, but the bodywork and paint was very straight. There was another orange outlaw that looked really good too.

Justin, the Targa is a friend of mines, but I do drive it now and then though. 47k original miles, CA car.

I will post more progress shortly on my car.
Good Night!

[roy mawbey]

Tom,

That butt weld close up is great. I never get fed up with looking at nice welding. This is because its just not easy to get it perfect like that especially, on thin gauge and a butt as well.
I reckon you could have worked wonders on my door repair. When you know how difficult it is you begin to appreciate looking at how it should be done.

Thank you for those photo's

Roy

[tperazzo]

Sorry for the long delay updating this thread. I find it hard enough to get the time to work on the car, let alone take pictures of it. This discussion is helpful and important for me, so here we go. I value Justin's threads and others here tremendously. (Good news is that I'm about 4 or 5 repairs ahead of this thread, so I will add pictures as time permits).

Remember, I had to stretch the rocker almost 3/8" to fit the car? Well here's the added replacement piece welded in.



Darn it, many of the pictures are in the wrong format, so I will update more tomorrow when I'm at my office computer and convert the images. Eventually I'll get to the "money shot" showing how everything fits with the door, I promise.

Good night.
Tom

[MMW]

Very nice work. It shows a lot of patience to get it right before you even think of welding.

What tig machine do you have? Are you using a foot pedal or hand control? If hand, is it an east/west or north/south? Size tungsten, size cup, how many amps, size rod, gas cfh?